Stroke and heart disease rank as leading causes of deaths worldwide accounting for many millions of victims per year. Preventive strategies have resulted in a decrease in the rate of stroke, heart attack, and death but these improvements have been offset in part by the growth of an aging population. Methods of simply and accurately evaluating these disease conditions in patients are needed in order to aid in the detection, diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring or treatment of these conditions worldwide.
Recently, interest has developed in the use of circulating nucleic acids in the plasma or serum of patients for clinical diagnosis. (See, Lo Y M D et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 1998; 339:1734–8; Lo Y M D, et al., Lancet 1997; 350:485–7; Lo Y M D, et al., Am. J. Hum. Genet. 1998; 62:768–75; Chen X Q, et al., Nat. Med. 1996; 2:1033–5, Nawroz H et al., Nat. Med. 1996; 2:1035–7; Lo Y M D et al., Lancet 1998; 351:1329–30; Lo Y M D, et al., Clin. Chem. 2000; 46:319–23.) Although the mechanisms by which nucleic acids are released into the circulation are unknown, it is likely that cell death is one major factor (Fournie et al., Gerontology 1993; 39:215–21; Fournie et al., Cancer Lett. 1995; 91:221–7.) In this application, for the first time, it is demonstrated that the detection of circulating nucleic acids in the plasma or serum of stroke or cardiac ischemia patients can be used for the evaluation of disease in the patient.